After watching the youtube videos in class on tuesday, I became curious about YouTube’s copyright policies. I have seen videos taken down before because of copyright infringement, but never really thought about what happened to the YouTube user who put the content up. According to an article on Politico, If a Youtube recieves a copyright notification about a user’s video then not only will the the video be blocks but the user will have to complete “YouTube Copyright School”.
What is “YouTube Copyright School”? This video:
Not surprisingly this video has over 3 million views. It has a lot of down ratings and comments have been disabled. After you watch the video you have to pass a quiz to prove that you understand copyright law. If you pass the quiz then you can remove the strike from your account.
What do you think of YouTube Copyright School? Is it the right approach?
It is an interesting approach and I hadn’t thought about what happens to the user. This is probably a good first offense warning because it is effective but not too harsh or just a letter that people wouldn’t read. While it may seem annoying it is a fairly fast and easy way to reach out to the users.
I think that this approach to handling copyright infringement is good in that it is simple and not too time consuming. It seems like the people who put this approach into effect are actually trying to have offenders learn from their mistakes rather than having them merely be reprimanded.
Both clever and fairly entertaining, it works to cut down on infringement offenders, as well as raise awareness. To those who have to take the test afterward, it may seem trivial and annoying, but at that point it would be impossible to claim ignorance.
I really enjoy this approach by Youtube. I think it is a very smart way to educate people. It may be annoying but I think it is completely necessary